This Year's Hottest Toys and Present Ideas
Topic: Quincenera DressQuest
What are some of the hot toys and gift ideas for the Holiday Shopping Season? Folks, you may have bad luck if you were looking for T.M.X. Elmo. Tickle Me Elmo X is hard to find. When you do find it online at EBay and Amazon, expect to pay dearly for it. The retail price of the toy is set at $39.99, but on these sites, due to scarcity it can go up all the way to $150 and $500. Game consoles are hot. The three major consoles are involved in a fight for supremacy. so far you can get Microsoft's Xbox 360 for $399.99, Sony PlayStation 3 for $600 and Nintendo Wii game console for $250. That is if you are lucky enough, you can walk into a target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy and Circuit City stores to find them. If not, you have to go to the resellers who were pushing in line. They are the game console entrepreneurs who are selling to make a few bucks. This year, anybody you give a cashmere sweater to will be grateful. This is the year of the cashmere outfit. Cashmere gloves, scarves, pillows, blankets and other accessories. Go to Target and other department stores to pick yours. Do not forget to check out the flat-panel TVs. In terms of electronics, they are the movers and shakers. Electronic stores can not stock enough of these items. So far, based on Comscore traffic study and Nielsen/Net Ratings, consumer electronics sites have seen the most traffic so far at 211%. Then, you have apparel which comes at a distant 117%. Those who are interested in sprucing up their home and garden contribute to the rise in traffic at 87%. Shopping.com, shopzilla, Yahoo shopping, MSN shopping and other shopping comparison sites and portals receive 79% of the traffic. Beauty and cosmetics products receive 78%. Computer hardware/software is at 77%. Toys/video games reach 51%. Flowers and gifts go for 42%. Books, Music/Video are at 23% and shoes lag at 12%.

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Vacation and Most Polluted American Cities
Topic: Travel & Shopping

As you are getting ready to plan your vacation, think about the ten most polluted U.S. cities before anything else.

Here is the list of the cities: Ten Most Polluted U.S. Cities (Ozone Rated Only) 1. Los Angeles (Long Beach, Calif., Riverside, Calif.) 2. Bakersfield, Calif. 3. Fresno-Madera, Calif. 4. Visalia-Porterville, Calif. 5. Merced, Calif. 6. Houston (Baytown, Huntsville, Tex.) 7. Sacramento (Arden, Calif., Arcade, Calif., Truckee, Nev.) 8. Dallas/Forth Worth 9. New York (Newark, N.J., Bridgeport, Conn.) 10. Philadelphia (Camden, N.J., Vineland, N.J.)

Most Polluted Cities In China (And The World) 1. Linfen, Shanxi Province 2. Yangquan, Shanxi Province 3. Datong, Shanxi Province 4. Shizuishan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region 5. Sanmanxia, Henan Province 6. Jincheng, Gansu Province 7. Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province 8. Xianyang, Shanxi Province 9. Zhuzhou, Hunan Province 10. Luoyang, Henan Province Source: American Lung Association (for 2005)

Rennes-Le Chateau and Other Da Vinci Code Locales
Topic: TheDaVinciCode Book Movie

Break The Secrets of Traveling with The Da Vinci Code: Hot Da Vinci Code Location Tours

What are the top locales described by Dan Brown in the Da Vinci Code book and movie?

There is no doubt a new segment of the travel industry has just been made popular by the hugely fiction novel, The Da Vinci Code. Location Travel has always been around in books such as Midnight in the Garden of Eden, The Sea and the Old Man, and various movies such as Lord of the Rings in the case of New Zealand. Dan Brown and his wife took the idea of location travel to a higher level. Without any doubt, fans and regular tourists will want to visit France, London and elsewhere to inquire about the sites mentioned in the book. So far, The Louvre remains one of the most famous destinations. Keep in mind that The Louvre is in Paris and is also the repository of Leonardo Da Vinci's most famous painting, Mona Lisa.

Saint-Sulpice Church has gorgeous Delacroix frescoes and a tall obelisk with a golden ball. The next place to visit is Chateau Villette owned by a California realtor. It is not open to the public. What a great advertisement for this great 185-acre estate that is open for vacations, weddings and other events? Next comes Temple Church in London. As far as London is concerned, there are a lot of interesting sites to see. While traveling with The Code, one will never stop enjoying the Westminster Abbey which is one of the most visited churches in London. We must add that the priest of the Westminster Abbey did not let the crew shoot the film at the abbey. So they had to go to another church and create a replica decor to match that of Westminster Abbey. Rosslyn Chapel as well as the Vatican and other places mentioned in the book and movie should be part of anybody's travel plans.

More and more tourists will find a trip to Europe very interesting this year.

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Like Prophet Daniel, Abdul Rahman Kept his Faith While Others Wanted to Kill Him
Topic: Religion Bulletin

Like Prophet Daniel, Abdul Rahman Kept his Faith While Others Wanted to Kill Him

According to islamic law, Mr. Rahman should have been sentenced to death right now. And everything would be fine in Afghanistan. His conversion to Christianity enflamed his muslim countrymen and other adherents. Even his family members denounced him and wanted him dead. It is the law of their religion, to kill anybody who has a Bible after conversion to the Christian faith. Well, no law was supposed to conflict with the principles of islamic law. That is what the shariah is all about. Afghanistan is not the only country where people can die under these laws. Shariah rose its head in Nigeria a few years ago when a woman was condemned to death by stoning for adultery despite the fact she was a rape victim. Apostasy, blaphemy and other categorized evils are enough to cause somebody to lose his/her life. The leaders of the western world have been pleading in Mr. Rahman's favor. From the pope to presidents, everybody who respects the values of freedom of religion, freedom of conscience wanted to do something to spare Rahman's life. In the end, the Afghan prosecutors found him to be incompetent to stand trial. He was released. Italy grants him asylum. It was a life and death situation for him. Yet, he did not become a yoyo in his faith. He stood his ground. He gave it all to God. In the end, he walked out a free men. Miracles continue to happen today.

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Daily Bible Readings and Prayers via Podcasts: Prayer on the Go!
Topic: Pray-as-you-go_Downloads

If you are always in a hurry, if you have no time to go to church, prayer on the go is for you. If the situations of life prevent you from going to church or prevent you from attending mass, then you can come to prayers on the go right here to get your ipod and podcast downloads.

Feel free to listen to your devotions anywhere you are. You can be listening to your prayer and devotions podcasts on your ipods on the train, the bus and at work and school. If you want God's blessings anywhere you go, find prayer on the go!

We also accept requests. Feel free to ask us to pray for you and a loved one. If you have a project that is important to you, if you want to succeed, we want to lift you to God in prayer. If you are going to do anything that requires divine intervention, let us give you support via our prayers!

Go ahead and submit your prayer requests to us.

Thailand, India, Malaysia and the Philippines Promote Medical Tourism
Topic: Medicine & Technology

As health care costs are mounting in western societies, more and more people are shopping elsewhere. So far, India is ahead of the curve. Indian doctors who have worked overseas for many generations are returning home to create the attraction of medical tourism. Once outsourced, thes Indian medical experts are going back to India, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines to work. In fact, France already has a policy of inviting Philipino physicians. A lot of young or recently graduated doctors who have successfully completed their residence are working and living in France.

In the West, more and more patients are taking advantages of the low costs of very specilized services offered by those places. You can think about hip replacement and other special works that need to be done. We are talking about the outsourcing of medical know-how.

Medical tourism is a cross between health care, travel and leizure. Usually, the patients who go to those countries for affordable or cheap medical help end up getting the best treatment possible. They stay at posh hotels on world-class resorts and beaches. Their needs are taken care and included in the package. It is a $ multi-million business that most countries would envy, but they don't have the infrastructures. India is a prime destination because of the level of education and adoption of hard sciences such as Computer sciences, engineering, medicine etc.

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McClatchy Buys Knight Ridder for $ 4.4 Billion in Cash and Stock
Topic: Word Press NewsMedia

McClatchy Buys Knight Ridder for $ 4.4 Billion in Cash and Stock

The Fate of 32 High-flying Knight Ridder Papers is Sealed

When it was announced that Knight Ridder was forced by its biggest shareholder to go on sale, many companies and other newspaper organizations became interested in the Knight Ridder holdings. McClatchy which is based in Sacramento is also assuming $2 billion in Knight Ridder debt. All of a sudden, Gary Pruitt, McClatchy’s president, became the chair and chief executive of a much larger company. Tony Ridder, Knight Ridder’s chief executive, is happy with the deal he got. Gary Pruitt has to act quickly to sell some of the large urban papers that do not fit what the company considers as important future growth criteria.

Some of the papers that have to be sold are: The San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and the Akron Beacon Journal, The Monterey Herald, The Wilkes Barre Times Leader, the Aberdeen American News, the Grand Forks (N.D) Herald, the Fort Wayne (Ind) News-Sentinel, and the Duluth News and Tribune. The St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota will be sold to avoid antitrust issues because McClatchy already owns Minneapolis Star Tribune. Some of the newspaper organizations that are interested in buying some of the papers for sale include Denver-based MediaNews which would like to place a bid for some of the papers. Also, the Newspaper Guild wants to come up with its own investor to buy some of the papers for sale.

It has been known in the newspaper industry that McClatchy has a strong history of financial discipline. If a company is not going to be profitable, McClatchy will most likely get rid of it. That is the situation in which The San Jose Mercury News finds itself. Yes, it is located in the Silicon Valley, but the predictions for growth in that market are not high. So McClatchy wants to get rid of it as soon as possible. It is all about making a few bucks for all the shareholders including McClatchy and Knight Ridder’s top investor Private Capital Management (PCM). It is interesting that this huge investor was pressuring Knight Ridder to explore sales. It is also the same company which is behind McClatchy. Does this mean that in the near future McClatchy is going to suffer the same fate that Knight Ridder is currently suffering? Knight Ridder journalists should write about this. McClatchy journalists should not think about certainty and job security the way things are going. In a sense, the days of McClatchy may be numbered too. If PCM does not get the rate of returns it wants, it may force McClatchy to go up for sale too. Once again, readers will lose. They will have to gravitate toward the Internet newspapers. That seems to be the way things are going any way.

So folks, McClatchy got a good deal. It is going to shore up its investments by liquidating some of the flagship papers of Knight Ridder which was founded in 1974. It was created when the Knight and Ridder newspaper groups merged. Over the years, it grew to a total of 32 papers in various areas of the country. From Miami, the company moved its headquarters to San Jose, the heart of the Silicon Valley. Once the deal is over, the San Jose Corporate offices will be closed. No corporate officers will go to Sacramento-based McClatchy corporate centers. With a $3.75 billion in bank debt and commitments from Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase Bank, McClatchy will finalize the purchase.

What is in this deal for consumers, readers of McClatchy papers?

We just hope that Gary Pruitt will be wise enough to keep some great writers and webmasters from the papers that are scheduled to be sold. As subscribers of the McClatchy papers in various areas of the country, we would like to continue reading the Pulitzer prize-winning journalists who were with Knight Ridder. Why not? We are paying top money for the service. It is time we ask for some improvement. There is no need to let these guys and gals go. Absorb them and put them to work. Now, if they do not want to work for McClatchy, that is something else. We still think that newspapers such as The San Jose Mercury News and the Philadelphia Inquirer should not be put up for sale. We understand the business. Declines in sale and circulation by the Philadelphia Inquirer and its huge staff may seal its fate right off the bat. McClatchy has a history of focusing on high-growth communities. That is why it is keeping 20 daily Knight Ridder papers. We are still puzzled by why the San Jose Mercury did not make the cut. Even Gary Pruitt called these papers “Terrific Publications” but they just do not fit into McClatchy’s strategy of buying papers in growing markets. For sure, the news of the sales of the 12 papers surprised many journalists. They did not expect this quick announcement. McClatchy’s Pruitt is calling the shots now. But, who are we? McClatchy is not going to listen to its loyal users. Now, our choices are limited. McClatchy controls the market with this deal.

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Leadership, Emotional Inteliggence, Intelligence Quotient & Works Cited
Topic: Business Technology

Aberman, R. “Emotional Intelligence.” Paper presented at the Quarterly Meeting of the Minnesota Human Resource Planning Society, Minneapolis, MN, November 29, 2000.

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Ashkanasy, N. M. (2003). Emotions in organizations: A multilevel perspective. In Dancewear & F.J. Yammarino (Eds.), Research in multi-level issues, Vol. 2: Multi-level issues in organizational behavior and strategy (pp. 9-54). Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science.

Ashkanasy, N.M. * Daus, S. D. (2002). Emotion in the workplace: The new challenge for managers. Academy of Management Executive, 16(1), 76-86. Ashkanasy, N.M.; Hartel, C. E. J.; & Zerbe, W. J. (2002). What are the management tools that come of this?

Ashkanasy, M.M. & Tse, B. (2000). Transformational leadership as management of emotion: A conceptual review.

Bachman, W. (1998), “Nice guys finish first: a SYMLOG analysis of US naval commands,” in Polley R.B. (Ed.), The SYMLOG Practitioner: Applications of Small Group Research, Preager, New York, NY. Bar-On, R. The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQi). Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems, 1996.

Barling, J., Slater, F. and Kelloway, K. (2000), “Transformational leadership and EQ”, Leadership & Organizational Development Journal, Vol. 20 No. 4.

Bass, B.M. (1985), Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations, Free Press, New York, NY.

Bass, B.M. Bass and Stogdill’s handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications (3rd ed.). New York: Free Press, 1990.

Beadle, D. (2000), “Leadership development: transformational leadership and emotional intelligence”, MSc dissertation, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, Manchester.

Burns, J.M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper Boyatzis, R.E. (1982). The Competent Manager: A Model for Effective Performance. New York: Wiley.

Boyatzis, R.E. (1996). Consequences and rejuvenation of competency-based human resource and organization development, in Woodman R. W. and Pasmore, W.A. (Eds.), Research in Organizational Change and Development. Volume 9, pp 101-122 Greenwich, CN: Jai Press

Boyatzis, R.E. (2000). Developing Emotional Intelligence. (To be published in Cherniss, C., Boyatzis, R.E., Elias, M. (Eds.). Developments in Emotional Intelligence. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Boyatzis, R.E., Goleman, D., and Rhee, K., (2000). Clustering competence in emotional intelligence: Insights from the Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI). In R. Bar-On and J. D. A. Parker (Eds.). Handbook of Emotional Intelligence. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.

Covey, S. (1990). The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: restoring the character ethic, Fireside/Simon & Schuster, New York, NY. Cooper, R. (1997), “Applying emotional intelligence in the workplace”, Training and Development, Vol. 51 No. 12, pp.31-8.

Cooper, R.K. and Sawaf, A. (1997), Executive EQ: Emotional intelligence in Leadership and organizations, Grosset/Putnam, New York, NY. Cherniss, C. (2000), “Emotional Intelligence: What it is and why it matters”, Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in organizations, www.eiconsortium.org

Cherniss, C. (1998). Social and emotional learning for leaders. Educational Leadership. Vol. 55 p. 26 (3).

Chowdry, K., & Newcomb, T.M. (1952). The relative abilities of leaders and on-leaders to estimate opinions of their own groups. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 47, 57-61.

Dasborough, M.T. & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2002). Emotion and attribution of intentionality in leader-member relationships. Leadership Quarterly, 13, 615-634.

Dobbins, G.H., Long, W.S. Dedrick, E.J., Clemons,T. C. The Role of Self-monitoring and Gender on Leader Emergence: A Laboratory and Field Study. Southern Management Association. Journal of Management. . Vol. 16, no. 3. 1990, pp 609-618

Druskat, V.U., & Wolf, S.B. (2001). Group emotional competence and its influence on group effectiveness. In C. Cherniss, & D. Goleman (Eds.). Emotional Competence in organizations (pp. 132-155). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Easterbrook, J.A. The effects of emotion on cue utilization and the organization of behavior. Psychological Review, 1959, 66, 183-200. Eisenberg, N., & Miller, P.A. (1987). The Relation of empathy to prosocial and related behaviors. Psychological Bulletin, 10(1), 91-119.

Francis, D. and Young, D.,(1979). Improving Work Groups: A Practical Manual for Team Building. University Associates, Inc., San Diego, California. Forgas, J.P. & Mood and judgment: The affect infusion model. Psychological Bulletin, 1995, 117, 39-66.

Goleman, D. Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Doubleday, Dell, 1995.

Goleman, D. Working with Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1998. Goleman, Daniel, Boyatzis, Richard, McKee, Annie (2004). Primal Leadership: realizing the power of emotional intelligence. Consulting to Management, September, 15, p.56.

Hagenow, N. G., (2001). Care executives: organizational intelligence for these times. Nursing Administration Quarterly, Summer 2001, p. 33.

Halberstam, D. (2004, September). The greatness that cannot be taught. Fast Company, p. 62.

Heifetz, R. A., Laurie, D. L.(2001). The Work of Leadership. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 79, Iss. 11. Retrieved from Business Source Premier on June 4, 2005.

Hughes, R. L, Ginnett, R. C., and Curphy, G. J. (2002). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience. (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Humphrey, R. H. (Ed.) (2002). Special issues on emotions and leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 13(5).

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Kirkpatrick, S.A. & Locke, E.A. Leadership: Do Traits Matter? Academy of Management Executive, 1991, 5(2), 48-60

Lambert, C. The Emotional Path to Success. Harvard Magazine. September/October 1998 pp. 60-4, 95.

Mark, A. (2004). Human Resource Management Journal. London V. 14m Kss, 1; pg 97, pgs. Mayer, J., Caruso, D., & Salovey, P. (2000). Perceiving affective content in ambiguous visual stimuli: a component of emotional intelligence. Journal of Personality Assessment, 54, 772-781.

Mayer, J. and Salovey, P. (1993), “The Intelligence of emotional intelligence”, Intelligence, Vol. 17, pp. 433-42.

Mendes, E., (2003). What empathy can do. Educational Leadership, Vo. 61, p.2. Retrieved August 20, 2005 from EBSCO database

Miron, D., and McClelland, D.C. (1979). “The Impact of Achievement Motivation Training on Small Businesses.” California Management Review 1979 21, 4: 13-28.

Moriarty, P. & Buckley, F. 2003). Increasing team emotional intelligence through process. Journal of European Industrial Training. Bradford, Vol. 27, Iss. 2-4; pg 98.

Perkins, D. (1994), Outsmarting IQ: The Emerging Science of Learnable Intelligence, The Free Press, New York, NY.

Ryback, D. (1998), Putting Emotional Intelligence to work: Successful Leadership is More than Just IQ, Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, MA.

Salovey, P. & Mayer, J. D. (1990) Emotional Intelligence. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 9, 185-211.

Salovey, P. Bedell, B.T., Detweiler, J. B., & Mayer, J.D. (2000). Current Directions in emotional intelligence research. In M. Lewis & J.M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed.) (pp. 504-522). New York: Guilford Press. (Southwest Airlines.) Home Page. Retrieved May 15, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.southwest.com

Spencer, L.M., Jr., and S.M. Spencer. (1993). Competence at Work. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Snyder, M. 1979. Self-monitoring processes. In L. Berkowitz (ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, 12: 86-128. New York: Academic Press. Sternberg, R.J. (1996), Successful intelligence, Simon Schuster, New York, NY.

Steiner, E. D. (1972). Group process and productivity. New York: Free Press

Weisinger, H. (1998), Emotional Intelligence at work, Jossey Bass, San Francisco, CA.

Weymes, E. (2003). Relationships not leadership sustain successful organizations. Journal of Change Management Vol. 3, Iss. 4; pg. 319.

Wolf, S. B. Pescosolido, A. T. and Druskat, V. U. (2002). Emotional Intelligence as the basis of leadership emergence in self-managing teams. The Leadership Quarterly, 510

Yukl, G. (1998) Leadership in organizations (4th. Ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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United Against The Threats of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code Book & Movie
Topic: WP Faith & Values

Adherents of the Christian Faith, Christians as well as Catholics, Are Reacting to The Da Vinci Code Book & Upcoming Movie

Showing the True Jesus, His Authenticity and Life

While Dan Brown has to answer in a British court whether he illegally lifted portions of a previously published book to include in his bestseller, The Da Vinci Code, Christians are getting ready for a battle of clarification. They are not taking it lying down. They want the whole truth about Jesus's life and leadership to come out according to the Scriptures.

The U.S. bishops' Catholic Communication Campaign will offer key resources to provide accurate information on the life of Jesus prior to the release of the movie "The Da Vinci Code."

Those resources will include a Web site and documentary scheduled to air on NBC-TV stations. Also being produced is a 16-page booklet on "The Authentic Jesus."

On Thursday the Catholic Communication Campaign will launch a Web site, www.jesusdecoded.com, to provide accurate information on Jesus, Catholic teaching, and various topics explored in the Dan Brown novel.

The Web site will explain Catholic beliefs and include articles from theologians, media commentators, art experts and others that provide background and also rebut the speculation and inaccuracies about Christ and the origins of Christianity. Contributing to the Web site is the Prelature of Opus Dei.

The Multi-pronged Reaction to The Da Vinci Code Includes a Booklet Too

Also available in March will be the booklet "The Authentic Jesus," which will address questions raised by "The Da Vinci Code" and other popular portrayals of Jesus.

The booklet, produced by the USCCB Committee on Communications, presents authentic Catholic teaching about Jesus and his divinity, the New Testament, Gnosticism, women and the Church, and other important topics in a question-and-answer format.

"The Authentic Jesus" will be available for individual and bulk sale from USCCB Publishing. Also for sale from USCCB Publishing will be a bulletin insert based on the same material.

"Jesus Decoded," a Catholic Communication Campaign documentary that brings authentic Catholic teaching about Jesus Christ into focus, will be available to NBC-TV stations for broadcast starting the third weekend of May.

Scholars interviewed

This first-time airing of the hourlong documentary will highlight clear and accurate information about the person of Jesus, his disciples, and the formation of the books in the canon, or list of books, of the New Testament.

Shot on location in Israel, Turkey, and Italy, "Jesus Decoded" offers a solid Catholic response to "Da Vinci Code believers," concentrating especially on the first three centuries of the development of the Church.

The program includes interviews with scholars versed in art, history and Scripture that help separate Catholic truth from popular fiction.

Compiled from newswire and other catholic and christian publications such as Catholic today, beliefnet and zenit etc.

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Decoding The Da Vinci Code Book & Movie: Dan Brown's Book Made into Movie
Topic: TheDaVinciCode Book Movie

Here is what I have been reading lately. I find this article very interesting. It clarifies things up , forms and informs Catholics, Christians about the untruths of Dan Brown's Bestseller, The Da Vinci Code.

Amy Welborn, former writer for Our Sunday Visitor, now freelance author, lecturer and remarkable mother of five. Many people read her blog, "The Open Book." She talks about her latest works debunking "The Da Vinci Code."

Welborn had been a teacher for nine years and had a master's in Church history. Indeed her books, her studious rebuttals of "The Da Vinci Code" and her blog all speak of a mission to form and inform Catholics.

Welborn's first forays into literature were a children's book on saints and a series of apologetics books for young people. She says that through her writing, she "was able to continue teaching in a broader way." Her knack, she says, "is taking complicated concepts and making them more understandable especially for young people."

Welborn's recent book, "Decoding Da Vinci: The Facts Behind the Fiction of the Da Vinci Code," was written to assist numerous readers of the "Da Vinci Code" who find themselves confused between fact and fiction in the novel.

Welborn's first encounter with the Dan Brown book was a quick (negative) review for Our Sunday Visitor, but she realized that "however silly the story and poorly written the book was, it was very manipulative."

Amy Welborn was not ready to the reaction to her book. She realized that the Da Vinci Code had a lot of followers and readers. Reactions to her review revealed that the novel had unearthed a deep crisis in catechesis. Recalling a letter from a mother saying that her daughter had "lost her faith" as a result of reading the book, Welborn asked, "What faith, if it can be undone by something off a fiction shelf?"

Her newest book, "Decoding Mary Magdalene: Fact, Fiction and Lies" was inspired by her husband who noted that there were no Catholic books setting the record straight on Mary Magdalene.

Welborn notes that Mary Magdalene, besides her role as the faithful disciple who is the first witness to the Resurrection, is also a model of penitence. In this respect, she claims that Dan Brown's errors are the most grievous because "'The Da Vinci Code' gives the impression that her repentance is bad."

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